Method and apparatus for spinning sliver

ABSTRACT

Sliver is drafted immediately prior to its introduction into a supply passage to an open-end-spinning device, and the supply passage housing is rotatable to impart twist to the sliver so that the fibers in such sliver will be straightened and held in substantially parallel relationship until the sliver end is subjected to separation into individual fibers by the spinning apparatus. The inner mouth of the supply passage is located closely adjacent to the spinning chamber fiber collection face so that the fibers will be positively moved by the spinning forces, such as centrifugal, suction or electrostatic forces, to maintain the fibers in substantially parallel relationship, even though separated from the sliver in the spinning chamber. The sliver is gripped at the edge of the inner supply passage mouth to facilitate twisting of the sliver in the passage and to hold the sliver to facilitate separation of the individual fibers from the sliver end extending beyond the supply passage mouth in response to spinning forces. Such gripping may be effected simply by the configuration of the passage mouth which bends the sliver to frictionally engage the mouth edge, by roughening the mouth edge, or by providing a positive clamp glidably engaging the sliver.

United States Patent Staneff [54] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SPINNING SLIVER [72] Inventor: Stefan Staneff, l-Ierzogenaurach,

Germany [73] Assignee: Industriewerk Schaeffler OHG, Herzogenaurach, Germany 22 Filed: July 8,1971

21 Appl.No.: 160,742

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data July 9, 1970 Germany ..P 20 34 094.7

[52] U.S. Cl ..57/58.95, 57/156 [51] Int. Cl. ..D0lh 1/12 [58] Field of Search ..57/58.86-58.95, 57/ 156 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,620,002 11/1971 Grishin ..57/58.89 3,370,413 2/1968 Rajnoha et a1 ..57/58.95 3,126,697 3/1964 Cizek et al. ..57/58.95 X 2,926,483 3/1960 Keeler et al. ..57/58.95

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 477,259 12/1937 Great Britain ..57/58.95

[ 1 Nov. 21, 1972 Primary ExaminerDonald E. Watkins Attorney-Robert W. Beach [5 7] ABSTRACT Sliver is drafted immediately prior to its introduction into a supply passage to an open-end-spinning device, and the supply passage housing is rotatable to impart twist to the sliver so that the fibers in such sliver will be straightened and held in substantially parallel relationship until the sliver end is subjected to separation into individual fibers by the spinning apparatus. The inner mouth of the supply passage is located closely adjacent to the spinning chamber fiber collection face so that the fibers will be positively moved by the spinning forces, such as centrifugal, suction or electrostatic forces, to maintain the fibers in substantially parallel relationship, even though separated from the sliver in the spinning chamber. The sliver is gripped at the edge of the inner supply passage mouth to facilitate twisting of the sliver in the passage and to hold the sliver to facilitate separation of the individual fibers from the sliver end extending beyond the supply passage mouth in response to spinning forces. Such gripping may be effected simply by the configuration of the passage mouth which bends the sliver to frictionally engage the mouth edge, by toughening the mouth edge, or by providing a positive clamp glidably engaging the sliver.

7 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTED um 21 I972 3. 7 03, 0 74 sum 1 or 3 6 Fig.7

IN V EN TOR frEF/W sub EFF ,JTTOENE'V PATENTEDnnvzt I972 SHEET 2 [IF 3 INVENTOR 57 5/4 ffA/VEFF METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SPINNING SLIVER The invention relates to a method and apparatus for spinning sliver, in which sliver opened out into individual fibers is placed on a collecting face, twisted on to a rotating yarn end and drawn from the collecting face as a twisted yarn.

In the case of previously proposed open-endspinning apparatus the spinning element has a sliver opened up into individual fibers supplied to it (see German specification Nos. 1,510,623 and 1,560,313, and Japanese Publication SI-IO 44 15,130). Despite the most varied improvements as regards opening up into individual fibers (German specification Nos. 1,922,876 and 2,045,863), the fiber transport (French specification No. 1,420,167, German specification No. 1,922,743) and in the deposit of the fibers (German specification No. 1,179,842, Swiss specification No. 473,912) the fibers supplied individually to the spinning element do not come to lie on the collecting face in a parallel fashion, something which is disadvantageous for the spinning process.

One aim of the present invention is to avoid this disadvantage and to provide a method and a simple apparatus for bringing about parallel deposition of the fibers on the collecting face of the spinning element.

The present invention consists in a method of spinning sliver in which the sliver is twisted and conveyed in a twisted condition into a position adjacent to a rotating collecting face, following which it is opened up to produce individual fibers, which are placed on a collecting face, twisted on to a rotating yarn end and drawn away from the collecting face as a twisted yarn. Thus the fibers are still in the form of a fiber assembly such as a tow or roving in a position close to the collecting face so that they are compelled to retain their ordered parallelism. It is only at a position close to this collecting face that the fibers are detached from this fiber assembly which for example has the form of sliver produced by carding or drafting. In order to facilitate this opening or breaking up of the fiber sliver and make it even the fiber sliver can be subjected to drafting before the twisting.

The present invention also consists in an apparatus for spinning sliver, comprising an open-end-spinning element, a supply channel for the passage of sliver from a supply device to a collecting face of the open-endspinning element, and a draw-off channel arranged opposite the supply channel with respect to the collecting face, and a draw-off device for passing the twisted yarn through the draw-off channel, the supply channel being constructed as a twisting means. The fibers still located in the fiber assembly during their movement in the supply channel are thus given a twist which compels them to maintain their mutual parallelism. The opening or breaking up of this fiber sliver into individual fibers is carried out in a conventional manner by the action of a tension force on the sliver retained by a retaining force. In order on the one hand to facilitate the introduction of the fiber sliver into the supply channel and on the other hand to keep the point, at which the fiber sliver is opened up into the individual fibers, as close as possible to the collecting face in the spinning element, so that the uncontrolled flight of the fibers is shortened, the supply channel is preferably made so as to diverge in a direction leading towards the spinning element in a manner of a funnel. The entraining action of the supply channel is produced in this manner by the centrifugal force pressing the fiber sliver to be broken up against the supply channel. In order to improve the twisting action the supply channel can at its opening adjacent to the spinning element be provided additionally with one or more entraining means, which can also be constructed as a gripping means. It is also possible to open up the sliver coming from a card or a drawing frame without previous drafting, though a more even opening up action is obtained when the sliver is subjected to drafting before twisting. For this purpose in accordance with a further feature of the invention a conventional drafting means is provided upstream from the supply channel.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in more detail.

FIG. 1 shows the apparatus in accordance with the invention with a spinning turbine in section.

FIG. 2 shows a detail of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a difierent embodiment of the subject matter of the invention in section.

FIG. 4 shows the subject matter of the invention in conjunction with a non-rotating spinning element.

The present invention is based upon the discovery that all previously known methods and devices do not lead to any satisfactory parallel deposit of the fibers on the collecting face of the spinning element since parallelism of the fibers is disturbed either on the breakingup of the sliver into individual fibers and/or on the transport of the separated fibers to the collecting face. In order to avoid this disadvantage there is the feature in accordance with the invention that the fibers are conveyed in a closed fiber assembly, that is to say in a sliver or a fine sliverlet until a position immediately adjacent to the collecting face is reached and at this position the fiber assembly is broken up into individual fibers. In order to ensure closed transport to the fibers as far as this position of breaking-up the fiber sliver or the fine fiber sliverlet is twisted before being broken up into individual fibers and being deposited on the collecting face of the spinning element and is transported in the twisted condition.

For the present invention the term open-endspinning-element is intended to include spinning turbines (German specification No. 1,510,623, U.S. Pat. specification 3,481,128) and rotating or stationary funnels (Czech specification 93,048, Japanese Publication SHO 44 15,130), which may be capable of being charged electrostatically (German specification No. 1,922,876, French specification No. 1,442,699), if desired.

In the embodiment of the subject matter of the application shown in FIG. 1 as a spinning element use is made of a spinning turbine 1, which is journalled in a conventional manner in a housing 2, which for its part is fixed on the machine housing 20. Above and concentric to the spinning turbine l the supply channel 3 is journalled in the housing 2. The sliver 4 passes through the channel 3 to the collecting face 10 of the spinning turbine l. The supply channel 3 is constructed as a twisting element and is driven by a belt 5, which can simultaneously also drive the spinning turbine l in the opposite direction to that of the supply channel 3. The belt is for this purpose passed over pulleys 50, 51, 52

and 53 of which one is driven by a drive device, not shown.

The supply channel 3 constructed as a twisting element broadens out towards the spinning turbine 1 in the manner of a funnel 30 and at its opening adjacent to the spinning turbine has entraining means 31, for example in the form of one or more grooves or teeth.

The manner of operation of the apparatus in accordance with the invention whose construction has just been described, will not be explained in what follows with reference to a numerical example.

The fiber sliver 4 is supplied for example as a sliver from a drawing frame or card of Nm 0.30 or Tex 3333. The sliver is drafted by a drafting device 6 with an overall drafting action of about 83 to make a fiber 40 of Nm 25 or Tex 40.

After the drafting the fiber sliver 40 is led through a sliver guide 21 and passed into the supply channel 3. Owing to centrifugal force the fiber sliver 40 is thrown against the inner wall of the funnel 30 and caused to rotate with the latter. This entrainment is enhanced by the entraining means 31 provided at the end or opening adjacent to the spinning turbine 1. The part, laid out away from the axis of rotation of the supply channel 3 of the sliver 40 acts as a crank and causes the fiber sliver to be broken up to rotate. If the supply channel 3 rotates for example at 10,000 rpm and the supply speed of the drafting device is 30 m/min, the fiber sliver 40 carries out approximately 333 rotations per meter. Since the opening of the supply channel 3 is arranged in the spinning turbine l, the fibers are thrown out at the end of the fiber sliver 40 and deposited on the collecting face 10. The breaking-up of the fiber sliver 40 into individual fibers is still further encouraged by the vacuum obtaining in the spinning turbine 1. This vacuum is produced by holes 11 in the rotating spinning turbine l.

The distance between the opening of the funnel 30 and the inner wall of the spinning turbine 1 can vary to suit requirements. If it is greater than the average staple fiber length, the breaking-up of the fiber sliver 40 occurs under the action of centrifugal forces and the flow of the air. If, however, the distance is less than the average staple fiber length, the inner wall of the spinning turbine 1 encourages the removal of the fibers from the fiber sliver 40 owing to entrainment when an end of the fibers reaches the spinning turbine l.

The fibers located on the collecting surface of the spinning turbine l are twisted in a conventional manner onto the end of a yarn 41. This yarn 41 is drawn through the hollow shank 12 of the spinning turbine 1 with the help of a draw-off device 60 and wound up by means of a winding-up device which is not shown.

Just as is the case with previously proposed openend-spinning devices in which a fiber sliver is spun with the help of a spinning turbine, the spinning rotation of the spinning turbine 1 determines the number of turns in the finished yarn 41. If the drawn-off yarn is to be of Nm 50, then in the case of a supplied sliver 40 of Nm 25 and a supply speed of 30 m/min the draw-off speed must amount to 60 m/min. In the case of a speed or rotation of the spinning turbine l of 42,000 rpm the fiber thus has 700 turns per meter.

Although preferably the funnel 30 of the supply channel 3 has one or more entraining means 31, it is possible to do without such entraining means. In order to guarantee an orderly break-up of the fiber sliver 40 it is only necessary to take care to see that the centrifugal force produced by the turns of the funnel 30 is so great that it entrains the fiber sliver 40 on rotating and thus imparts turns to the latter.

The supply device can be constructed in various different ways. In some circumstances it may be sufficient for the fiber sliver 4 to pass without drafting between a single pair of rolls to the supply channel 3, while in other cases instead of a three-cylinder drafting mechanism a four-cylinder drafting mechanism with a drafting factor of to may be convenient. It is essential for the present invention that the fibers remain in a fiber assembly as far as the end, adjacent to the spinning turbine 1, of the supply channel 3 and in this manner maintain their mutual parallelism reliably during movement as far as this opening.

Furthermore the supply channel 3 can be constructed in various different forms. Thus it is not necessary that it should have the form of a funnel. In accordance with the construction shown in FIG. 3 of the subject matter of the application the supply channel 34 arranged at the axis of the spinning turbine 13 has an opening 32 directed towards the inner wall or the collecting face 10 of the spinning turbine 1. In order to provide means for retaining the fiber sliver 40 the upper wall of this opening 32 is constructed as a gripping means 33, which under its own weight or with the help of a spring with an invariable or adjustable force acts on the sliver 40. The end, located in the spinning turbine 1, of the supply channel 34 can be dynamically balanced to avoid excessively rapid wear of the bearings.

In the two embodiments of the invention shown the vacuum necessary for spinning can either be produced by holes 11 (FIGS. 1 and 2) or by means of a vacuum producing arrangement connected via a duct 22 with the housing 2 (FIGS. 3 and 4).

The invention is not limited to open-end-spinning devices in which a spinning turbine 1 is used as a spinning element. FIG. 4 shows an apparatus with a stationary spinning funnel 7, which is arranged in the housing 23. In the spinning funnel 7 holes 70 are provided with whose aid the necessary spinning vacuum is produced in the spinning funnel. For this purpose the housing 25 is connected via a duct 22 with a vacuum producing device, not shown. The fiber sliver is passed through a supply channel 35 into the spinning funnel 7,: whose fiber passage is inclined from a draw-in opening 36 concentric with respect to the spinning funnel axis 14 towards the eccentrically arranged outlet opening 37 so that owing to this inclination a pull is exerted on the sliver. In the case of this embodiment of the invention as well the sliver is broken up by the action of centrifugal forces to produce individual fibers and deposited on the collecting face 71 formedby the inner wall of the spinning funnel 7, which has a draw-off channel 16, provided with a suitable gripping device 15, extending into it. The channel 16 is driven by a belt 54 in the same direction as the supply duct or channel 35 or in the opposite directionto it.

The invention can also be subject to further modifications. Thus the supply channels 3, 34 and 35 can be used in the case of each of the forms of apparatus shown. Instead of the spinning funnel 7 being stationary and the draw-off channel 16 being driven, the spinning funnel 7 and the draw-off channel 16 can form one unit and be driven together. In this case the spinning funnel can have various different shapes. Instead of using vacuum the transport of fibers from the opening, adjacent to the spinning element 1 or 7, of the supply channel 3, 34 or 35 to the collecting face or 71 of the spinning element can be carried out with the help of compressed air or with an electric field, which is built up between the collecting face and the supply channel.

The yarn can also be drawn ofi at a position downstream from the opened side of the spinning element and in this case the supply of the sliver can be carried out through the shank of the spinning element constructed in the form of a hollow shaft.

The present invention makes it possible in a simple manner for the fibers while still in the form of a fiber assembly such as a sliver 40 to be brought to a position close to the collecting face 10 or 71 by causing the breaking-up or opening-up into individual fibers to occur at the opening, adjacent to the spinning element, of the supply channel 3, 34 or 35. Thus the path along which the fibers are subjected to the action of air and/or an electrostatic field is very small so that possible interference with the positions of the fibers and drafting is reduced to a minimum.

What we claim is:

1. A method of spinning sliver comprising the steps of twisting sliver, conveying such twisted sliver to dispose a sliver end adjacent to a collecting face of spinning apparatus, separating the sliver end portion into individual fibers, and supplying such fibers to the collecting face for twisting onto a rotating yarn end.

2. The method defined in claim 1, including the step of drafting the sliver before twisting such sliver.

3. Apparatus for spinning sliver into twisted yarn, comprising an open-end-spinning element having a collecting face, means having a sliver passage therethrough for twisting the sliver and supplying the twisted sliver to such collecting face of the open-endspinning element, and a draw-off passage, such collecting face being located between said supply passage and said draw-off passage, and a draw-off device for moving the twisted yarn through the draw-off passage.

4. The apparatus defined in claim 3, in which the supply passage is funnel-shaped and widens toward the spinning element collecting face.

5. The apparatus defined in claim 3, in which the supply passage includes fiber-entraining means at its opening adjacent to the spinning element collecting face.

6. The apparatus defined in claim 3, in which the entraining means is a gripping element.

7. The apparatus defined in claim 3, and drafting means located upstream relative to the direction of sliver movement from the supply passage. 

1. A method of spinning sliver comprising the steps of twisting sliver, conveying such twisted sliver to dispose a sliver end adjacent to a collecting face of spinning apparatus, separating the sliver end portion into individual fibers, and supplying such fibers to the collecting face for twisting onto a rotating yarn end.
 1. A method of spinning sliver comprising the steps of twisting sliver, conveying such twisted sliver to dispose a sliver end adjacent to a collecting face of spinning apparatus, separating the sliver end portion into individual fibers, and supplying such fibers to the collecting face for twisting onto a rotating yarn end.
 2. The method defined in claim 1, including the step of drafting the sliver before twisting such sliver.
 3. Apparatus for spinning sliver into twisted yarn, comprising an open-end-spinning element having a collecting face, means having a sliver passage therethrough for twisting the sliver and supplying the twisted sliver to such collecting face of the open-end-spinning element, and a draw-off passage, such collecting face being located between said supply passage and said draw-off passage, and a draw-off device for moving the twisted yarn through the draw-off passage.
 4. The apparatus defined in claim 3, in which the supply passage is funnel-shaped and widens toward the spinning element collecting face.
 5. The apparatus defined in claim 3, in which the supply passage includes fiber-entraining means at its opening adjacent to the spinning element collecting face.
 6. The apparatus defined in claim 3, in which the entraining means is a gripping element. 